Imagine yourself making a speech and someone constantly keeps nagging at your every point or your audience seems disinterested and absent-minded. Feel terrible, doesn’t it? The exact same feeling incenses in the mind of the speaker to whom you are listening uninterestingly. Your listening skills are equally important as your speaking and convincing skills in order to be successful in life.
Active Listening is a vital part of our everyday conversation and is often ignored due to our carelessness. However, the development of this skill is equally important if you wish to make that invincible statement and speak right. Given Below is an insight on how you can develop your listening skills in order to be a perfect converser and a leader!
Sit up straight and look in the eye of the speaker when he is saying something. This ensures him that you are listening and also ensure your mind doesn’t wander off from the topic.
Do not make the mistake of interruptions. Ensure that if you disagree or need to make a note or anything at a certain point, do it later instead of trying to interrupt the speaker. Listen carefully to what he has to say and then draw your own conclusions and derivations.
Make sure you give oral acknowledgment from time to time so the speaker is assured that you are listening to him. You can use words like ‘yes’, ‘okay’, ‘I see’ and gestures like nods and clapping on relevant points.
Ask questions! When you ask questions it evinces that you did hear carefully and you have doubts regarding certain things said by the speaker. He is convinced of the fact that you were prudently listening to him.
Keep a broad prospect and mindset. Be open to new ideas and observe and listen to others’ points of view as well. Do not keep a pre-deliberated mindset that will hamper your competence to listen to what the speaker has to say.
Don’t start judging the person on his past mishaps or mistakes. We all make mistakes, so it’s best to give everybody an opportunity to speak and ensure you listen to them carefully. Agreed they might have made mistakes before, but they may also be right about certain points that your pre-determined mindset refuses to accept.
Ensure that there are no distractions around and you are focused on listening to the speaker. If any disruptions, get rid of them because if you lose focus you will lose out on listening to the point the speaker has to make.
With all said and done, listening skills just happen to develop in one fine day. You need to inhabit the practice of listening in your routine life and conversations. Once inhabited, this custom of listening skills will definitely help you ace the best!
